To Die, To Sleep, Perchance to Dream?
by Cookie Pixie
Summary: CHALLENGE for all Read or DieRead or Dream fanfic writers!


I wrote this up on a whim, thinking of a story. This is left open to any ROD writer to continue, although it'd help if you'd seen Read or Die and Read or Die TV/Read or Dream.  
  
Changes to plot: 'Good' Nancy is still alive (although it's up to you to explain how she survived). Keep reading for more!  
  


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**To Die, To Sleep - Perchance to Dream?**  
  
_Jinbouchou, 2002_  
  
A young woman, with long dark hair and large glasses, could be seen perusing the bookstores in the neighbourhood. Storekeepers didn't give the woman a second glance as she entered, browsed through a rack of old books, then left within minutes. Now and then a clerk, seeing the somewhat-frantic look on the woman's face, would ask if the woman needed assistance finding what she needed, but the reply was always with a hesitant, "No thank you."  
  
Disappointed, the woman finally left the bookstores, now on an empty street. She opened up a small address book to check something, then joined the line for a bus. After a short ride, the woman got off at a condo complex. Skilfully she picked the lock to the inner door so she wouldn't have to buzz anyone of her presence. She entered an elevator, got off at one of the higher floors, then went down the hall, counting the doors and checking her address book as she went. Finally the correct door number appeared, and the woman knocked. There was a pause, then a yell of frustration.  
  
"This'd better be good!" someone roared from inside, then the door whipped open, revealing one angry-looking woman. Nenene Sumiregawa was in an old T-shirt and sweatpants, her short brown hair pulled back by a green hair band that matched her eyes, which were glaring daggers at the stranger. "Who are you, and – "  
  
Not much time was given for Nenene to react when the woman grabbed her mouth, silencing her. In one smooth motion she captured the authoress against her chest, twisted around so she was inside the room, then closed and locked the door. All this time the furious writer struggled, shocked at what was going on. Was this another lunatic fan?!  
  
"I'm sorry that I had to do that, Sumiregawa-san," the woman said with a polite bow, "but I need your help."   
  
"Who are you?" yelled Nenene when the woman released her. "Why should I help you? Do you know who I am?"   
  
"Actually, yes," the woman answered as her disguise fell off, revealing a purple-haired woman in a revealing black bodysuit. As Nenene gaped, she added, "Yomiko told me all about you."   
  
Nenene shook herself out of her stupor. "You're...do you know Yomiko Readman?" she asked, although the answer now appeared obvious.   
  
The woman nodded. "Yes," she said, "but professionally she was known as The Paper and I was Miss Deep."   
  
"Miss Deep..." Nenene shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I don't know you."   
  
"That's all right, I was hoping you didn't," answered Miss Deep. "I trust that you're aware of what Yomiko did for a living?"   
  
"Yeah..." Suddenly Nenene realized that her guest had been standing here in the foyer for the past few minutes and she hadn't bothered to invite her in. "Oh! I'm sorry, but would you like to come in? I usually don't get guests."   
  
"I can see why," Miss Deep said slyly, stepping onto the floor. Nenene had to hide a smirk as she went to the kitchen to prepare tea - at least she had a sense of humour. In a few minutes she had made two suitable cups, which she presented to her guest at the low table in her living room.   
  
"You referred to Sensei in past tense," Nenene announced suspiciously as Miss Deep took an appreciative sip. "Let's get straight to the point: What's wrong?"   
  
Miss Deep looked hesitant to say. "When was the last time you heard from The Paper?" she asked.   
  
"Two weeks ago," Nenene answered promptly. "I had to drive her to the airport. She said that she had to go back to Great Britain on some business, and I had just published my book - I gave her a copy so she could read it. She looked really excited."   
  
"Emacipation Zone of Midnight?" Miss Deep asked curiously.   
  
"Ah..." Nenene sweatdropped. "How did..."   
  
"It was in the bookstores," Miss Deep answered, taking another sip. "It's selling like hotcakes off of the shelves, number 2 on the bestsellers list. I have yet to read it though," she added thoughtfully. "I'm...not much of a book person. I'm sorry for interrupting, carry on."   
  
"There's nothing else to say," Nenene said sadly. "When she's away on business I know better than to try and contact her. I was hoping that she would phone, or send some mail about how she liked my book, because she's a good reader, but I haven't got anything..."   
  
From a small pack at her waist Miss Deep placed a small book on Nenene's table. It still had a sticky note attached to the front, with the kana in red pen saying: "Read this! - Nenene"   
  
"Is this it?" Miss Deep asked.   
  
"Hey!" Nenene yelled. She slammed her palm on the table, causing the objects on it to jump. "What are you doing with Sensei's book, eh? I gave this to her as a present! Is this a joke?"   
  
"This is no joke, Sumiregawa-san." Nenene looked up to see Miss Deep's pretty face go serious and sombre. "The Paper disappeared exactly two weeks ago, and you're the last person outside of the British Library who saw her."   
  
"Eh?" Nenene was reduced to idiotic gaping at this woman. Her logical mind started putting together the odds that this was an elaborate hoax. The woman was dressed in one of the most bizarre costumes she had seen, but by the look of it Nenene guessed that Miss Deep was an all-business and no-nonsense type of person. She did have Sensei's book, complete with the sticky-note. She knew about Sensei's job, which was extremely top-secret (despite the fact that pretty much every psycho who had tried to kidnap her was aware of it). And Sensei hadn't phoned at all, which was reason for suspicion - if she was in Tokyo and not Great Britain.   
  
"Let's say this," Nenene finally said, smirking as her mind working out a devious plot. "You're a kidnapper. You kidnapped Sensei and have her somewhere. You get all dressed up and steal this book, then stalk me to my apartment. Using Sensei as a hostage, you manage to have me willingly leave my condo and do some bizarre scheme to me." She put her hands on her hips, beaming triumphantly at the woman. "Am I right?"   
  
It didn't take long for Nenene to realize that she was horribly, HORRIBLY wrong. Miss Deep gave Nenene a stunned look, then gracefully rose to her feet.   
  
"I apologize for interrupting your day, Sumiregawa-san," she said stiffly as she walked towards the door.   
  
"Wait!" Nenene yelped. This was _not_ what she had in mind! Usually they laughed or denied plots like these! "Where are you going?"   
  
"I thought," Miss Deep snarled, spinning on her heel and jabbing Nenene in the chest with a leather-clad finger, "I thought that you would take this seriously. Yomiko spoke very highly of what sort of person you are, that you are serious about writing and that you have a very strong writer-reader relationship.   
  
"But when I come here for help that may involve Yomiko's life, what happens? You accuse me of using her as bait so I can lure you out of your cozy little nook! That has to be one of the most self-centred reasons I have ever heard, and believe me, I've dealt with selfish. I find it very easy to believe that you may be even more crazy than Yomiko was!"   
  
"Wait!" Nenene yelled as Miss Deep turned to leave. She lunged for her wrist and caught it in an iron grip. "What's happened? What's happened to Sensei?"   
  
"Didn't you hear the story you simply smirked at?" Miss Deep snapped. She turned to look Nenene in the eye. "That was a most contrived plot."   
  
"I'm sorry, but I didn't know if you were serious or not," Nenene apologized. She let go of Miss Deep's wrist. "Please, what do you know?"   
  
Miss Deep hesitated. "It depends. Will you believe me?"   
  
"Yes!"   
  
"Fine then. We better go sit down." Nenene guided Miss Deep back to their places before she continued.   
  
"I was assigned to be Yomiko's partner about a year ago," Miss Deep began. "We worked together with a third man on a mission, called the I-jin Incident."   
  
Nenene nodded. "I've heard of it."   
  
"Hard to ignore it. It was all over the newspapers for weeks, and the British Library's Special Forces took forever to clean it up. All three of us returned safely from the mission with a captive - the I-jin leader's lover." Miss Deep's lips went tight at the thought. "She had played a role in his plot, but due to some injuries had been rendered amnesiac. At the moment she's at a nursing home to get back her basic functions.   
  
"Within a few months it was discovered that she was pregnant, and soon after she had a baby. However, the British Library had plans for this child and mother, and locked them away. The Paper protested, as she felt that she was responsible for their care, but the British Library told her to go back to Japan until they had another mission ready for her. She did as she was told, coming back to Tokyo, and a few months later she was called back to duty.   
  
"According to the official reports, she never reported to the British Library, as she was supposed to two weeks ago," Miss Deep stated bluntly. "The British Library investigated, and it turned out that a thief had accidentally killed her when she had left the airport. So sad, nothing could be done, case closed."   
  
"Now THAT is a bad plot," Nenene growled. "Sensei may be scatterbrained, but an accidental death by a petty thief? She wouldn't go down without a fight."   
  
"I agree," answered Miss Deep. "She's pulled herself out of situations much worse. I investigated a bit, and it turns out that the body they had buried for Yomiko doesn't match to her DNA on file - I suspect that they killed another woman and used her body in place." She shuddered. "It's horrible, but I don't have much else to work on. I think that they faked her death so they could lock her away - for what reason, I haven't a clue."   
  
Nenene sat back, absorbing all this information. "Wait, so why did you come to me?" she asked.   
  
"I was hoping that she might have told you something, Sumiregawa-san," Miss Deep answered. She sounded genuinely hopeful. "Ever since they announced her death, everyone seems to simply accept it without blinking. I told my support - the third man with us on the I-jin Incident - and he agrees that it sounds fishy, but we can't do anything without drawing attention to ourselves. For now, we can only appear to get over it like how the entire British Library seems to have done."   
  
The authoress stared down at her lukewarm tea. "I'm sorry, Miss Deep, but I don't know anything," she said. "After she came back she looked a little sad, but cheered right up when I said that my book was being published. She was fine after that - shopping, reading and not much else. Sensei looked apprehensive about going back to Great Britain, but tried to sound cheerful that she had work."   
  
"Anything else?" Miss Deep asked.   
  
"Not a thing."   
  
The two women sat there for a few minutes, contemplating over Miss Deep's story while finishing the tea. Finally Miss Deep stood up.   
  
"I guess there's really nothing for me to do," she informed Nenene as she stood up as well. "May I have a piece of paper, so I can keep in touch with you?"   
  
"Of course," Nenene said; she reached around the sofa to pick up a convenient pad of paper and pen, and handed them to the woman.   
  
"Thank you," Miss Deep answered. She started to write, but as Nenene watched she realized that it was a little more than a phone number. When she started to ask, Miss Deep only shot Nenene a look, silently warning her to be quiet.   
  
_The British Library Special Forces are hiding something. But they're also very powerful. They probably have your entire apartment bugged and are watching it for any sign of me - I've given myself away too much already._   
  
Nenene frowned. "Come upstairs, I need to show you my work," she said. "If Sensei isn't coming back, you'll have to fill in for now."   
  
"Eh?" Miss Deep blinked. "I'm not much of - oh, okay," she said with realization.   
  
The two women quickly went to Nenene's private sanctuary, a room filled with drafts and her computer. The machine was already running, with the latest work's plot written out on the screen. Nenene sat down and began typing, as she was a much faster typist than she was a writer.   
  
_I want to help._   
  
_No,_ Miss Deep responded with a few angry taps. _This will be dangerous. You don't know what you're getting into._   
  
_Sensei is in danger, and I insist on coming,_ Nenene argued back silently. _I won't hold you back._ Miss Deep sighed, running a gloved hand through her hair.   
  
"Fine then," she said. "It needs planning, but I guess it'll work."   
  
"That's all you have to say?" Nenene asked.   
  
"I say you should do this," Miss Deep said, then typed in a few lines.   
  
_Meet me at Todo Books in two days at three o'clock, in the basement library. It's safe ground and I'll have a plan by then. Make sure to delete this._   
  
Nenene sighed. "Yeah, yeah, I'll take your 'suggestion'," she said with a wink. "You're not Sensei though."   
  
"I hope wherever she is, she's happy," Miss Deep answered as she left.  
  


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Lines taken from Hamlet's soliloquy (Hamlet):  
  
_To die, to sleep-   
To sleep - perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub,   
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come   
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,   
Must give us pause._  
  
If there's another ROD fan out there, I ask that you pick up the next chapter of this story and send it to me so I can post it up! Hmm, maybe we can turn it into a fun challenge for all of us?   
  
-- The Cookie Pixie 


End file.
